Fountain of Youth
by Paradox Chronarch
Summary: What would you do if you found the fabled Fountain of Youth?
1. starting clean

Chapter 1

"starting clean"

Ysaerus Demochi sighed, walking through Radiant Garden. His spiky yellow hair swayed in the cool breeze. People calmly walked around, often stopping to strike up a conversation or to shop.

Or, at least, that's how Ysaerus remembers it.

Now, however, he was confined to a metallic wheelchair as he browsed through the shops, often thrusting his carefully placed arms on the wheels forward, making him move.

Eyes started at him as he passed by, making it hard for Ysaerus to hear what so many of them were bickering about.

If only the accident hadn't happened.

_"I'm heading over to Radiant Garden," he had remembered telling Roxas a short while ago._

_"I'll come with you," Roxas had said. Ysaerus had shaken his head in disapproval._

_"I'm fine by myself."_

_"But you're in a wheelchair!"_

_"Which enables me to still move around! Besides, there may be a present in it for you, there may not. We'll just have to see if you'll let me go there alone."_

Obviously, Roxas had given in; otherwise he would be attracting more stares.

Ysaerus just continued on, finally finding a store that had an item that might actually be useful and in his price range.

Jackpot.

As he wheeled over to the stand (it was across the square), he heard two people talking.

"Did you hear about the doctor? The one that healed all of his patients?"

"I heard that his patients got younger!"

Ysaerus made a face. Many times, he's found, the gossip was too insane to be true.

As he approached the stand, he had a feeling that someone was following him. Well, it was because the fact that when he passed the people, some of them didn't stop looking the way he was. He turned his head around just enough to see a person in a black cloak. He was unable to see their face from under their hood.

He quickly turned the wheelchair around, facing the person in the cloak.

"Who are you?" Ysaerus asked. The person just stared, and then finally spoke.

"You've changed, Ysaerus," a feminine voice said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked. "Tell me!" But she said nothing, vanishing without a trace. Ysaerus growled, turning back around to face the merchant. "I'd like to buy that," he said to the merchant, pointing at an object and fishing munny out of his pocket. People stared at him, but he just ignored them.

He didn't care what they thought.

A scream burst out from the center as numerous small creatures came out of nowhere, all looking different in one way or another. Ysaerus yanked his necklace off, sighing.

It was a fairly normal necklace, and at the end of it was a small pitch-black claymore. He poked himself in the finger with one of the edges, causing a speck of blood to come out. He grinned as the claymore grew until it was life size.

"It's time to take care of business," he muttered, and the claymore started to levitate. It pierced through the air, cutting through the creature like tissue paper. The creature fell to the ground, bleeding. Finally, it went through the ground, leaving the bloody claymore clattering on the ground. The claymore then flew back into Ysaerus's hand. He smirked, as the creatures looked his way. They stared at him, and then vanished, leaving Ysaerus confused.


	2. coming clean

**Chapter 2**

"coming clean"

"What happened?"

Ysaerus said nothing, staring Roxas in the face.

"Ysaerus-"

"Nothing!" Ysaerus lied. He turned away so Roxas couldn't see his face. He could never lie to Roxas's face. Roxas put his hand under Ysaerus's chin and turned his head back around so they could look straight at each other.

"Ysaerus, what happened?" Roxas asked calmly. Well, having no heart helped him seem calm, but really, he was feeling almost nothing. Ysaerus said nothing, look Roxas straight in the eye, and that's when Roxas noticed something on Ysaerus's scarred face. "Ysaerus…you haven't been sleeping, have you?"

"I can't sleep…I keep thinking of her…Lying there as if she were just sleeping…" Ysaerus said, tears falling down his face. Roxas let go of Ysaerus.

"Ysaerus, Reimei's gone," Roxas said coldly. "You need to get on with your life." Truth was, he wasn't sure how to deal with Ysaerus's problem. This is the best he could do since he couldn't possibly ever feel the same way, heart or no heart.

It seemed like just yesterday when in all happened.

The ball.

The dying.

The rape.

Reimei being dead.

Roxas hadn't seen Archronos since that night. And it would be best for that too, seeing as how Archronos was found standing over Reimei with no memory of being in the room or going into it.

Poor Ysaerus had been affected so deeply by the entire ball, that he just collapsed mentally.

Ysaerus stared outside the Usual Spot, trying to check and see if anyone was coming their way. He played around with a diamond ring then quickly pocketed it. He didn't want to talk about the subject for much longer. If Reimei hadn't died, he wouldn't have broken his back.

So he wouldn't be in this stupid contraption.

"There was a slight…problem in Radiant Garden," Ysaerus said, looking back at Roxas. He was willing to change the subject to anything, as long as it didn't contain anything about Reimei. "There was someone in a black cloak. A girl. And when she left, little monsters that I've never seen before came.

If Roxas was a normal person he would have stared at Ysaerus as if he was insane. However, seeing as he was part of an organization of thirteen members who had no hearts and the fact that he, himself, weilded two giant friggin' keys. He's seen odder things.

"Were you able to see the person's face?" Roxas asked. It was probably Larxene, but it could have been someone else.

Apparently, black cloaks were "in" right now.

"No," Ysaerus said, "but she knew my name!"

That surprised Roxas. Not many people knew Ysaerus.

"Well then, let's go and pay Radiant Garden a visit now, shall we?" Roxas asked, drawing up a portal.

* * *

"How are the targets?"

"Good. They are finally advancing."

"And the doctor-"

"Doesn't know what the hell is going on.

"Good. Ysaerus is still in a wheelchair, I presume?"

"Yes."

"Good. Keep it that way. Don't let the doctor cross paths with him.

"Yessir!"


	3. fighting dirty

Author's Note: Yes, I finally updated. Thanks to Gato, Demon, Kitten, Meow, Boa, and whoever else I didn't mention from the website I go on, Eternal Darkness! They helped me with a name, so I feel they should get their own little shout-out.

Thanks guys! For everything!

Now onto the story.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"fighting dirty"

Her light blue eyes scanned the gray cement. She wore a black cloak with an equally black hood that concealed her malicious grin.

She traced her gloved fingers along the wall, ignoring the stares of people around her.

She's been ignoring people for what, 14 years?

"Remember your mission," her leader had said. She had nodded absently, trying to think of the number of people she could get into a fight with before this was all done.

Corentine yawned, her golden brown hair penetrating slightly from under the black hood. She lowered her hand from her mouth as a large man came up to her, obviously feeling brave.

The man looked at her shadowed face, eyes penetrating a feeling of slight fear.

The residents of Radiant Garden hadn't had good experience with people in black hoods.

"None of your kind allowed here," he growled. He yanked down the hood down, staring into her emotionless eyes for the first time. "Since you're pretty, I'll let you pass. But keep the hood down." He felt a sharp pain in his chest, but it quickly passed.

"I prefer it to be up," she said, raising her hand to her hood to raise it again, but the man's rough hand stretched out and grabbed hers, stopping her.

"I want to see your beautiful face," he said, raising his hand to her cheek and brushing it gently. Corentine grabbed his hand and jerked it away from her face, twisting it. He smirked, completely unfazed.

"Ooh, I like a girl that rebels."

Corentine slammed her leg into his groin, making him release her arm. She then slammed the inside of her foot into the side of the face, making him fall to the ground.

"Bitch," he growled. "Now I'm pissed." He began to charge at her, but then stopped when he was an inch away. He fell to the ground once again, eyes wide open. The veins on his bare arms and eyes were suddenly not visible.

Corentine looked up, blue eyes portraying no emotion.

"Anyone else want to say I can't have my hood up?" the sixteen year old asked, looking around. All eyes looked away once they met hers, and she raised her hood once again. "That's what I thought."

_One little piggy, dead without any water or blood left in him…_

Sora brushed cinnamon locks out of his eyes, staring at the sandy beach. The water crashed onto the shore almost peacefully.

It was too calm.

He was too used to hearing the blood pump in his ears. Too used to having his adrenaline at high levels.

He couldn't possibly settle down.

Sora pivoted, turning towards the hole near the waterfall.

Where it all started.

It all felt like a dream now. He hadn't used the keyblade since he got back, which was a couple of months ago. Reason being, he hadn't had a reason to.

"Maybe just for a second…" Sora said. He was, of course, talking about summoning the keyblade. He put out his hand in an attack position he would have used before to summon it. He waited for it to appear.

Nothing happened.

_Another little piggy, trapped without his little key._


End file.
